Newsletter No. 76 March 2026

WELCOME

Baby snake season is here. There are lots of hatching and newly born snakes emerging across WA.

Some species like Tiger Snakes, Death Adders and the Bardick (a venomous snake that not many have heard of) give birth to live young whilst our more famous species like the Dugite and King Brown are egg layers. Regardless of how they reproduce their offspring they are appearing NOW, usually anytime between February and May.

So, these little snakelings are mobile and trying to find somewhere to live. According to many snake scientists – herpetologists – most of these tiny babies are dead in a few weeks, eaten by everything from frogs to lizards, birds and mammals. Those that survive and manage to find food and shelter need also to survive the coming winter period. It is a perilous time of life to be a serpent.

So tidy up your backyard and watch out as these little things seek shelter, hopefully not near you or your pets. It is a myth that baby venomous snakes are more venomous or that they cannot control their venom like an adult snake. HOWEVER, a baby venomous snake is still dangerous – fortunately they have nothing like the volume of venom compared to a grown-up snake but take no risks. If relocating one back to the bush, please use tools and not fingers to safely help them on their way.

Baby snakes are harder to spot and have much less odour than a larger snake so it’s also harder for a trained dog to avoid them! For free to download educational snake related posters from Animal Ark please head here.

Bardick (Echiopsis eurta)

ANIMAL ARK SNAKE AVOIDANCE TRAINING

PRICE INCREASE – YIKES unfortunately all our costs from staff, accommodation and venue hire have increased so prices are going up.

BOOK NOW before May 1st and get the current rate.

It’s plenty of warning and hopefully with new dates added to our calendar you can get booked in now and save.

To book please head here.

A FEW WORDS ABOUT E-COLLARS

E-collars are often known as “dog communication devices”. They can help you get a dog to understand what it should or should not be doing and at a distance. Most collars work via radio signal between you, the controller, and the dog. The receiver has a range up to 1.5km away.

We had one call from a customer concerned the shock would go up the lead or through the ground to harm her, especially if it was raining. They cannot do that – they also cannot generate heat, so a burn is impossible. See image below.

Heads up – firstly I am not necessarily a huge fan of e-collars per se, but for what we at Animal Ark and sister company Bait Aversion do; namely delivering negatively reinforced operant conditioning (making a dog think it is unpleasant to go near snake or 1080 bait) they work very well, for most dogs, most of the time.

Positive only training would probably result in a dog looking for snakes to then get a treat as a reward! The downsides of positive only training:

A. you need to be there to offer the reward and

B. having no consequence for doing something bad or dangerous means that behaviour may be repeated.

If there was a better way of protecting dogs from snake bite we would use it. When we started offering the training we wanted the most effective solution to the problem.

We use Sportdog brand from thedogline.com.au

Also see: here which explains how to use these collars effectively to benefit you and your dog.

I know they are banned in NSW and in a few other places: the concern animal welfare activists have is that misuse and overuse can be damaging to some dogs.

However, with some understanding of their potential, and used correctly, I believe the benefits far outweigh the negatives. More dogs benefit from programs like ours than in areas where their use is outlawed. I am absolutely certain more dogs die from snake bite and 1080 toxins every year in areas where our training is not legally permitted.

E-COLLAR SOME INFORMATION FOR DOG OWNER

E-collars for dogs use Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) technology, which is similar to what is used in TENS machines for humans. Both use electrical impulses to stimulate muscles, but TENS machines are used to treat pain, while e-collars are used for training dogs.

How they work:

• TENS machines: Use electrical impulses to treat muscle and nerve pain in humans.

• E-collars: Use electrical impulses to train dogs by stimulating muscle contractions.

How they feel:

• TENS machines: Feel like muscle stimulation or pulses running through the body.

• E-collars: Can feel like a prickling sensation, higher levels can be unpleasant.

How they’re used:

• TENS machines: Used by physical therapists, chiropractors and during childbirth to treat pain.

• E-collars: Used by dog trainers to communicate with dogs and modify their behaviour.

Advantages of e-collars:

• Can be used to stop a dog from doing something dangerous, like running into traffic.

• Can be used to communicate with a dog even when they’re well-trained but distracted.

SNAKE HANDLER TRAINING

We continue all our training throughout WA, throughout the year.

Our 7.5acre property in the Perth Hills is a haven for wildlife – scaled, feathered, furred – with a diverse range of habitats and plant life to support as many natives as we can.

Back in the New Year we spotted our first female Southwestern Snake-necked Turtle (Chelodina colliei) leaving the creek area, (see below).

We are waiting to find out where she may have laid her eggs – and hope no foxes find them first. And we are looking forward to welcoming fresh water long neck turtle hatchlings into our little stretch of the Mahogany Creek once the winter rains start.

CHRISTMAS ISLAND TRIP

I feel very privileged to have been on a recent short trip to Christmas Island. Famed for mass crab migrations around November. So, whilst we were too late for that spectacle, plenty of crabs were still in evidence, everywhere in fact, on the beaches, national parks, rain forest, back gardens, the pub, no escaping them – they rule!

A remote place indeed, officially an Australian external territory, Christmas island lies 350km south of Java and Sumatra and like many parts of the world its native and many endemic species suffer greatly, or have already succumbed to extinction, from introduced feral animals. Cats, chickens (yes chickens), rats, the Asian Wolf Snake (Lycodon capucinus), Giant Centipedes (Scolopendra morsitans), to name but a few, roam the island.

We were relying really on some dry weather. It is the wet season so a lot of tropical deluging rain is the norm, so it is usually very wet and always very humid. So bad can the weather get, that once the mists descend around the ancient volcanic peaks the planes cannot see to land as scheduled. Visitor information leaflets attest to missed flights and delayed luggage as normal.

However, the weather gods were immensely kind to us. Despite some rainy patches we had mostly bright sunshine for our 4-day trip allowing us to see much of the beautiful island without getting too wet.

We have a friend working as an environmental advisor on the island so had a great opportunity to see the famous crabs, do some hikes around the island and go ‘herping” one night in search of the last remaining wild native reptile, the Christmas Island Giant Gecko (Cyrtodactylus sadleiri) . Whilst only measuring about 8cm they are ‘giant’ compared to most geckos. Favouring big buttress rooted trees, we found around 10 individuals, and it was a pleasure to see them in the wild. These giant geckos are the only remaining native lizard to be found here in the wild, the other 5 species of reptile are believed to be extinct or exist only within captive breeding programs. One of the survivors in captive populations is the attractive Christmas Island Blue-tailed Skink (Cryptoblepharus egeriae). Re-introductions to “safe” reserves is occurring, but it is an ongoing process to secure the species in the wild. We visited the conservation centres Pink House facility to see and learn about them.

Anyway, here are some wildlife images from this little paradise.

Christmas Island Giant Gecko (Cyrtodactylus sadleiri)

Christmas Island Blue-tailed Skink (Cyrtoblepharus egeriae)

Christmas Island Robber Crabs (Burgus latro)

Christmas Island Red Crabs (Gecarcoidea natalis)

upcoming courses & events

For Snake & Fauna Handling Training course dates please see here

Courses are held regularly around Perth. On-site and remote site training is also available. Please email info@animalark.com.au or call (08) 9243 3044.

For Animal Ark equipment sales please see our online store

For information on Animal Ark Snake Avoidance Training & Bait Aversion Training please see here